An objective of pistachio breeding programs is to develop new varieties that can be harvested at unique times relative to other pistachio varieties. The female pistachio variety ‘Kerman’ (not patented) is the main later-season pistachio cultivar grown in California and in other parts of the world, but other female pistachio varieties are also grown, such as ‘Golden Hills’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,158). A major problem for pistachio growers that has developed with the rapid increase in pistachio plantings in California, for example, is the availability of harvest equipment/contractors and processing capacity, since most of the existing crop (‘Kerman’) matures at about the same time. ‘Golden Hills’ has become a popular alternative to ‘Kerman’ because it can be harvested before ‘Kerman’, and other early-flowering female pistachio varieties have also been developed (e.g. ‘Gumdrop’, U.S. application Ser. No. 14/999,158). The development of multiple female pistachio varieties that flower in a time series is advantageous because this will allow these varieties to be harvested in a time series, which will increase the availability of pistachio harvesting equipment and processing capacity.
Developing a harvest date series is an optimal way to use existing harvest equipment and processing plant resources. Without staggered harvest dates, the pistachio industry will have to develop significantly increased (e.g. 2×) harvesting capability (which is now provided by custom harvestors) and find investors willing to fund new processing plants (which are only used for a few weeks per year). Failure to develop either these facilities or a harvest date series will expose the industry to significant risk from aflatoxin contamination in the crop due to extended pre-processing times.
In order to develop a successful harvest date series, male pistachio varieties whose flowering times sufficiently overlap with that of appropriate female pistachio varieties will need to be available. Female pistachio varieties require a properly synchronized male pollinizer to ensure fruit set, but even the earliest-flowering male pistachio variety being used in the industry (‘Randy’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,262) is unable to effectively pollinate early-flowering female pistachio varieties (e.g. ‘Gumdrop’) due to late flowering or poor flowering overlap. Male pistachio varieties that exhibit better flowering synchrony and overlap better with early-flowering female pistachio varieties than ‘Randy’ will aid in developing a successful harvest date series.
Further, poor synchrony between male and female pistachio trees is increased during low-chill years, and results in insufficient pollen during bloom. To address this, the pistachio industry is moving back to the older practice of including earlier-blooming males in orchard designs. For example, growers are commonly adding ‘Randy’ to new ‘Kerman’ plantings, or grafting ‘Randy’ onto ‘Peters’ (not patented) trees in existing plantings. It would be advantageous to have additional male varieties that can pollinize even earlier than ‘Randy’ to provide early pollen in low-chill years.
Thus, there exists a need for improved male pistachio varieties with earlier flowering dates than the present industry standards. The present male pistachio variety ‘Tejon’ described herein is a product of the breeding efforts to produce improved pistachio varieties.